This doesn’t suit our car, and it won’t help our championship so I write this one off. It's played out with a dry and refreshing sense of humour. I’ve already done one dirty deed, so I decide to keep my nose clean of such obvious misdemeanours. I receive an email offering me a £250,000 bribe if I vote to keep the British Grand Prix in Guildford on the calendar.
It’s almost an homage to the Motorsport circus rather than a direct simulation, occasionally lampooning it satirically, and has a better character for it. You use sliders to try different car setups in practice, and then earn bonuses like better track knowledge. Your control of the team is absolute.Īcross the three available formulas (World, Europe and Asia) there are 16 Grand Prix with dynamic weather and evolving track conditions. Drivers, staff, headquarters construction, basic race setups and sponsorships are all decided by you. Motorsport Manager effectively recreates the drama and entertainment of managing and creating the strategy of a Grand Prix team, if not the in-depth simulation of the cars and their exact inner workings.
Away from the on-track drama, there are political shenanigans, driver relationships (my test driver fell out with the chairwoman which created some bad air) and the need to continually develop parts for the car, with engineers and designers all vying for your attention and budget. Pit startįans of Football Manager will know this feeling and Motorsport Manager replicates the same passion for the subject matter that a good strategy game can bring out of you.
I will project this angst against my second driver who could soon be looking for new employment. I am not happy, but I also feel responsible and disappointed like I’m being told off by myself.
My first driver adorns the top step but I can’t help feeling sad, cheated and angry with my drivers and myself for not getting what our tactics truly deserved. Like the previous occasion, losing the one-two finish had me hoping for at least a double podium, but no, eighth it is again. In this third race I might have miscalculated his earlier pushing instruction and he’s run out of fuel. In the first race, his front wing fails completely on the last lap, dropping him to eighth. A one stop strategy is risky, but is rewarded when you've built up enough of a lead to pit for the softer tyre later on, given the front wing or the engine a quick service and still come out with a good few seconds gap. The strategy was to start on a harder tyre, lasting longer on track, and conserving the fuel as the car is fast enough to remain in top ten contention. Climbing up the grid thanks to the new upgrades and the best (technically illegal) parts. My first driver is great and this will be win number two in our three Grand Prix weekends so far, performing way above our station. Problems arise and, like before, I’ve gone for broke. Visions of myself talking modestly to an imaginary Simon Lazenby and Martin Brundle, being complimented for my tactical nous, is then followed by a bath of champagne, prize money, the promise of an upgraded wind tunnel and… Oh no.
This is the reward of stubborn, nay, gritty determination that what I am doing is right. This means I've overcome the disappointment of a similar situation two races ago. Thanks to some brave pit strategy, I’m currently on for an elusive one-two finish.